New Hampshire Trust Acquires Shares of 18,377 Blackstone Inc. $BX

New Hampshire Trust purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,462 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,906 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $154.55 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $113.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.71%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.